English · ASV

Hebrews 12

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

The Race of Faith and the Example of Jesus 1–4

1
Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ​
2
looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ​
3
For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. ​
4
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin: ​

The Discipline of the Lord 5–11

5
and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons, My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art reproved of him; ​
6
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. ​
7
It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not? ​
8
But if ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. ​
9
Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10
For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. ​
11
All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness. ​

Practical Exhortations and Warnings 12–17

12
Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees;
13
and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed.
14
Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord: ​
15
looking carefully lestthere beany man that falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled;
16
lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright. ​
17
For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind in his father, though he sought it diligently with tears. ​

Sinai vs. Zion: The Unshakable Kingdom 18–29

18
For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, ​
19
and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them;
20
for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned;
21
and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:
22
but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, ​
23
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24
and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel. ​
25
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on earth, much more shall not we escape who turn away from him that warneth from heaven:
26
whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven. ​
27
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. ​
28
Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: ​
29
for our God is a consuming fire. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Hebrews 12

Verse 1

so great a cloud of witnesses — 'Cloud' (nephos) is found only here, a massed crowd; the 'witnesses' (martyres) are those whose faith was told in chapter 11. 'Weight' (onkos) and 'easily beset' (euperistatos) also occur only here. The 'race' is agon, a contest, run 'with patience' (hypomone), the endurance named again in vv.2–3, 7.

Verse 2

author and finisher of our faith — Archegos is leader or founder (Acts 3:15; Heb 2:10, 'captain'); teleiotes, finisher, is found only here. 'Looking' is aphorao, to look away from other things to one. He 'endured' (hypomeno) the cross, and 'is set down at the right hand' as Ps 110:1 foretold; 'despising' is kataphroneo, to think little of.

Verse 3

consider him — Analogizomai, to reckon up, found only here. 'Contradiction' is antilogia, opposition in speech, the word of Heb 7:7 and, as 'strife', of Heb 6:16. 'Faint' is ekluo, to be unstrung, as in Gal 6:9, 'we shall reap, if we faint not'; 'wearied' is kamno. The remedy is to reckon up what he endured.

Verse 4

resisted unto blood — Antikathistemi, to stand against; 'striving' is antagonizomai, found only here, taking up the contest of v.1. The readers had known earlier trials: 'a great fight of afflictions' and 'the spoiling of your goods' (Heb 10:32–34). 'Not yet' states where they stood: resisting, but not as far as blood.

Verse 5

ye have forgotten the exhortation — The exhortation is Prov 3:11–12, quoted as spoken to 'children'. 'Forgotten' (eklanthanomai) and 'despise' (oligoreo, to think lightly of) occur only here. 'Chastening' is paideia, the training of a child; 'rebuked' is elencho, to convict. Because it says 'My son', v.7 can say 'God dealeth with you as with sons'.

Verse 6

whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth — The quotation is from Prov 3:12, 'For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.' 'Scourgeth' is mastigoo, to flog; 'receiveth' is paradechomai, to accept as one's own. Christ says the same of himself: 'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten' (Rev 3:19).

Verse 7

what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? — 'Endure' is hypomeno, the verb used of Christ in vv.2–3. The pattern is the law's own: 'as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee' (Deut 8:5). 'Chastening' and 'chasteneth' are the paideia and paideuo of vv.5–6, the training of a child.

Verse 8

bastards, and not sons — Nothos, an illegitimate child, found only here. 'Chastisement' is again paideia, and 'partakers' is metochos, a sharer, the word of 'partakers of the heavenly calling' (Heb 3:1). The argument is that discipline is common to all sons; to be left without it would mean being outside the household.

Verse 10

partakers of his holiness — 'After their own pleasure' is dokeo, as it seemed good to them; 'for our profit' is symphero, to bring together to one's good. 'Partakers' is metalambano, to take a share, and 'holiness' is hagiotes, found only here. The pattern is the LORD's own: 'ye shall be holy; for I am holy' (Lev 11:44).

Verse 11

the peaceable fruit of righteousness — 'Peaceable' (eirenikos) is found only here and in James 3:17, and James 3:18 gives the pairing, 'the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace'. 'Exercised' is gymnazo, to train as an athlete, in the picture of race and contest from vv.1 and 4. 'Afterward' (hysteron) is the delay between the pain and the fruit.

Verse 14

Follow peace with all men, and holiness — 'Follow' is dioko, to pursue, the strong verb elsewhere rendered 'persecute'; Paul uses it of the same aim, 'follow after the things which make for peace' (Rom 14:19). 'Holiness' is hagiasmos, being set apart. 'See the Lord' recalls 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God' (Matt 5:8).

Verse 16

profane person, as Esau — 'Profane' is bebelos, accessible to all, unhallowed. 'One morsel of meat' (brosis, food) was the pottage of Gen 25:29–34; 'birthright' (prototokia) is found only here. Genesis gives the verdict: 'thus Esau despised his birthright' (Gen 25:34). The verse follows the warning against a 'root of bitterness' in v.15.

Verse 17

found no place of repentance — When Esau came for the blessing, Isaac said of Jacob, 'yea, and he shall be blessed' (Gen 27:33). Esau 'cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry' (Gen 27:34) and 'lifted up his voice, and wept' (Gen 27:38). 'Rejected' is apodokimazo, to disapprove. Heb 10:26 gives the matching warning, 'no more sacrifice for sins'.

Verse 18

the mount that might be touched — Sinai, where the people were told, 'whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death' (Ex 19:12), and 'the mountain burned with fire … with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness' (Deut 4:11). 'Blackness' (gnophos) and 'tempest' (thyella) are found only here. 'Ye are not come' is proserchomai, to draw near, as in Heb 4:16.

Verse 22

mount Sion — The same verb, proserchomai, now appears in the positive: 'ye are come' to what Abraham looked for, 'a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God' (Heb 11:10). 'Heavenly Jerusalem' is the 'Jerusalem which is above' (Gal 4:26) and 'new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven' (Rev 21:2). 'Innumerable' is myrias, ten thousands.

Verse 24

the blood of sprinkling — Rhantismos is found only here and in 1 Pet 1:2, 'sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ'. 'Mediator' (mesites) is the title of Heb 8:6 and 9:15. Abel's blood cried 'from the ground' (Gen 4:10), and 'being dead yet speaketh' (Heb 11:4); the blood of Christ speaks 'better' (kreitton), the letter's word for what surpasses the old.

Verse 26

Yet once more I shake — The quotation is from Haggai 2:6, 'Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land'. 'Whose voice then shook the earth' refers to Sinai, where 'the whole mount quaked greatly' (Ex 19:18) and God 'answered him by a voice' (Ex 19:19). 'Shook' is saleuo, the verb of v.27.

Verse 27

the removing of those things that are shaken — 'Removing' is metathesis, a change or transfer, the word for Enoch's translation (Heb 11:5) and for 'a change also of the law' (Heb 7:12). Things 'that are made' are moved so that what 'cannot be shaken' may 'remain' (meno). That is the kingdom of v.28, as in 'a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed' (Dan 2:44).

Verse 28

a kingdom which cannot be moved — Asaleutos, unshakeable, the negative of the verb saleuo in vv.26–27. 'Receiving' is paralambano, to take over as one's own. 'Serve' is latreuo, to worship by service; 'acceptably' is euarestos, well-pleasing. 'Reverence' (aidos) and 'godly fear' (eulabeia) each occur only here and once elsewhere.

Verse 29

a consuming fire — Deut 4:24, 'For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God', said in recalling Sinai, where 'the mountain burned with fire' (Deut 4:11). 'Consuming' is katanalisko, to use up entirely. The verse closes the contrast of vv.18–24: the fire of Sinai is not left behind at Sion; Heb 10:27 speaks of 'fiery indignation'.